On The Side Of Sanity

May 30, 1990

Both the National Rifle Association and the administration were handed a rebuff last week with the Senate's vote by a narrow but significant margin to ban nine types of assault rifles.

Although the measure - part of an election-year crime bill package - faces many more hurdles before it would become law, its Senate support represented a serious defeat for the NRA and the White House.

In addition to five types of foreign-made weapons covered by President Bush's ban of last summer, the provision also would ban four other types of weapons produced in the United States.

As usual, the NRA fought hard against the measure but this time the gun lobby may have been outnumbered by police. Law enforcement officers from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C., to tell angry stories of comrades who have died at the hands of criminals armed with more firepower than the police who must face them on the nation's streets.

And this time, some key senators - including Virginia's Republican Sen. John Warner, usually a gun control foe - switched sides. Virginia's other senator, Democrat Charles Robb, joined Warner in this bipartisan show of reason.

Little by little, Congress seems to be shedding its fear of the NRA's strong-arm tactics. Refreshingly, it is beginning to respond to what most Americans want - a curb on the availability of weapons used mainly by drug dealers and other criminals to terrorize their victims.

Despite what the NRA contends, Americans have no absolute right to own whatever weapon a manufacturer can produce. Assault rifles aren't hunting or sporting guns, unless the prey is human and the sport is killing innocent people.

Beyond the question of rights, there is no legitimate need for these weap ons and most Americans don't want to own them. Lawmakers should stop catering to the few who do - and to the criminals who benefit from the gun lobby's intransigence.